A CAPACITY field of 57,000 are taking to the streets of South Tyneside on Sunday, with organisers of this year’s Simplyhealth Great North Run predicting more runners will finish the half-marathon than ever before.
The 38th staging of the Great North Run forms the centre-piece of a packed weekend of athletics that also featured the Great North City Games, incorporating a new elite mile race in Stockton, and the Junior Mini Great North Run, which is the biggest children’s run in the UK with more than 8,500 entrants.
When the Great North Run was first staged in 1981, only 11 per cent of the field was female. On Sunday, that figure will be 48 per cent, and instead of featuring celebrity starters, tomorrow’s race will pay tribute to some of the pioneers of women’s distance running.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Ingrid Kristiansen and Rosa Mota will fire Sunday’s starting gun, along with Kathrine Switzer, who defied convention to become the first woman ever to race in a marathon when she competed in Boston in 1967.
Brendan Foster, founder of the Great North Run, said: “This year there will be more women than ever before lining up on the start line of the Simplyhealth Great North Run.
“We’re honoured these pioneering athletes will be there to send them on their way. They will demonstrate to everyone who is running, men and women, what can be achieved with hard work and determination.
“Undoubtedly their stories will inspire all runners as they take on their own 13.1 mile challenge, and for all those who benefited from their bravery, it will be a chance to say, ‘Thank you, you’re the women who got us started’.”
A number of celebrities will be part of the Great North Run field, with singer-songwriter Olly Murs planning to race alongside his sister, Fay.
Bishop Auckland’s Scarlet Moffett, of Gogglebox and Saturday Night Takeaway fame, will be running in aid of the Angel Trust, a charity that provides community support in Darlington and County Durham.
The elite field will be headed by Sir Mo Farah, with the World and Olympic champion hoping to make history by becoming the first male runner to claim five successive Great North Run titles.
Farah said: “It’s always nice to be able to run at home, and I feel like this is home for me. I’ve competed for the last six or seven years in Newcastle, and always look forward to this weekend.
“The support I get from the fans is incredible. Whenever I’m tiring, I hear them shouting, ‘Mo, Mo’ and it drives me on. I’ve got the Chicago Marathon coming up, so a lot of my training has been for that, but I wasn’t going to miss the Great North Run.”
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